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 CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - A commercial airliner with 46 people on board was reported missing Thursday over western Venezuela, officials said. Rescuers rushed to a mountainous region of Merida state as authorities struggled to confirm reports that the aircraft had been located.
The twin-engine plane owned by Venezuelan airline Santa Barbara failed to contact control towers as expected after it took off from Merida en route to Simon Bolivar International Airport outside of Caracas, said Gen. Antonio Rivero, Venezuela's emergency management director.
Rivero said authorities in Merida state were checking "information regarding the possible discovery of the plane" in a mountainous region of Merida, which borders neighboring Colombia. But he said in an interview on state television that officials have no information on what condition the plane could be in. He did not elaborate.
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